UTC teams head to SoCon tournament having already accomplished much
Mar. 4—Two seasons that had a hard time getting off the ground have almost made it to the finish line.
Both University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball teams had hiccups to start their respective 2020-21 seasons. The women were delayed due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within the program, and the men had their first two games — Nov. 25 against Bellarmine and Nov. 28 against Northern Kentucky — canceled for positive tests within the opposing programs. In addition, fans weren't allowed at home games until February, although the women's team did allow parents to attend at McKenzie Arena before then.
The men were able to replace their home game against Bellarmine with one against Division II program Lander and played Northern Kentucky a week later, but right from the top there were hiccups. And coming off a summer when entire schedules had been shifted and athletes were quarantined and/or isolated, hiccups was the last thing anybody wanted or needed.
So to be this close to the end shouldn't be undervalued. Earlier this week, UTC forward Abbey Cornelius called it "a big accomplishment."
"It's something that I think a lot of teams — us, too — have looked at themselves," Cornelius continued. "We didn't know if we were going to make it here. Starting out, we had the delay, so that kind of put some stuff up in the air and made us a little more anxious about what's going to happen down the road."
Once coach Katie Burrows' women's team started the season, there were no problems concerning the coronavirus save for a brief scare in the season finale last week at East Tennessee State University, where the game's start was delayed for more than 40 minutes and was played with only two officials as opposed to the normal three. The Mocs were one of four teams in the SoCon to get all 14 league games in, aided by a one-year schedule adjustment in which teams played all but one of their two-game league series at the same site in a three-day span. UTC finished the regular season 14-9 overall and 9-5 in the conference.
SoCon men's teams chose not to follow the same format, and they faced greater difficulties with the virus. Only one team — UNC Greensboro — played all 18 league games, with Samford playing just 11. The Mocs played 16, missing out only on a trip to Furman and a home game against Virginia Military Institute as they went 18-7, 9-7.
Now both teams are close to the finish line, with SoCon tournament competition in Asheville, North Carolina, beginning Thursday for women's teams and Friday for men's teams.
The third-seeded UTC women face sixth-seeded Furman (10-13, 6-8) at 7:15 p.m. at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in the opening round. A win will give them an opportunity to play a day later in the semifinals, with the championship game at noon Sunday.
The fourth-seeded UTC men received a bye and will face fifth-seeded ETSU (12-11, 8-7) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, with the men's semifinals Sunday and the title game Monday.
What happens now is, of course, important. Everyone wants to win at tournament time, and the two UTC teams have as good of a chance as anyone to cut down nets in Asheville. But having made it to this point may be even more important, due to the uncertainty involved.
"We'll look back and realize that we've all grown in this situation, as everybody who has dealt with COVID has," Cornelius said. "We've grown as teammates. We've spent more time together in our hotels than we ever have, and the schedule we've been through has really made us grow close, and we've still had a lot fun, even as strange as it's been.
"When I look back , I won't regret anything that happened this season."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.
